Best Intentions
by littlemisscreativelyinsane
Summary: Castiel and Dean are put together for an assignment and Cas wants to know more about the handsome boy. His interest turns into obsession and he will go to any lengths to get Dean to notice him. Highschool!AU. Possible Destiel later on. Inspired by the song Night Vision Binoculars - Passenger as part of a Supernatural Challenge.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This fic is inspired by the song Night Vision Binoculars - Passenger and it's sort of part of a spn challenge thing but yeah, hope you like it. Rated T for stalker themes and possible violence in later chapters.**

Castiel Novak had always been a little odd. He was the boy that sat and ate his lunch alone at school. He came from a family of orphans, the eldest of which was 30 years and acted as the guardian for the younger ones; Anna, Gabriel and Castiel, who were still at school. Being an orphan in quite a large family had its upsides and its downsides like most things, but Castiel liked it. But even in his muddled up family he was still the odd one out, although he didn't notice this much.

On the other hand, Dean Winchester was society's definition of "normal". He was on the school football team, drove his own car, and was positively average when it came to school work. He lived with his younger brother Sam and his dad John but John was always out for work so Dean basically looked after Sam himself. He liked to think of himself as very manly, and didn't take crap from anybody.

These two boys had never had any reason to cross each other's paths until the first day back at school of their senior year. They had been placed in the same Modern History class and they had just been told that their assessment this term was a group project. Immediately the rest of the class began chatting and sorting themselves into groups and within five minutes everyone was paired up, except for Dean and Cas. Their teacher waited until the noise had settled down before noticing that these two were the only ones not in a group. "Winchester, Novak. Say hi. You'll be working together this term since everyone else is in groups." He announced and sat back, allowing the students to discuss their projects for the rest of the lesson.

Dean pulled his chair over to the empty desk beside Castiel. "Dean Winchester," he introduced, holding out his hand nonchalantly for Castiel to shake. Cas hesitated for a moment before proceeding to take his hand and shake gently. "Castiel Novak," he replied, "You can just call me Cas though" he added hurriedly, after noting Dean's apparent look of confusion. Dean relaxed slightly, "Well Cas, it looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time together." he said with a grin. At that moment the bell rang and the two boys stood, collecting their things before parting ways as the crowd of people surrounded them as they exited the room.

On the way to his next class, Castiel found himself thinking about his last class and about Dean in particular. His mind lingered on certain strange things, like the way Dean's hand had felt in his, and the way his eyes crinkled as he smirked. He shook his head, in an attempt to ignore these thoughts and continued on to class.

By the end of the day Castiel had calculated that he had thought about Dean Winchester approximately 78 times and had been in his presence outside of his history class for 137 seconds. It wasn't like he calculated these things on purpose, he just found himself drifting off into thought and ended up with these numbers.

He meandered over to the car park which was the closest exit to his house and on his way there glimpsed a sight of a certain dirty-blonde boy strolling over to a beautifully well-kept '67 Chevy Impala. Cas took a deep breath and detoured from his path slightly so he would come across Dean.

Dean was startled as the darker haired boy cut across in front of him but recovered quickly and smiled, "Hey, Cas right?" he greeted, remembering the boy from his Modern History class. Castiel returned the smile, "Yeah. Sorry, I just couldn't help but notice what a gorgeous car you have" he complimented, hoping he didn't seem too over-friendly. Dean grinned, proud. "Yeah, she's my dad's but I use her now that he has a company car" he explained. Castiel smiled and nodded enthusiastically, just sort of standing looking at Dean and not saying anything. Dean coughed awkwardly, "Anyways I'd better be going. I've gotta get to work" he nodded towards his car, which Castiel was standing right in front of. Castiel's eyes widened apologetically as he stepped aside. "Sorry, yeah of course." He watched as Dean got in the car and raised a hand in a waving gesture before driving off.


	2. Chapter 2

The Novak house was pretty quiet that afternoon. Anna was around at a friend's place studying and Michael hadn't gotten home from work yet so when Cas got home it was just Gabe watching TV.

Cas threw his bag on the ground by the door and headed into the kitchen which was right next to the living room with no door between. "Hey Gabe" he greeted, smiling cheerfully as he had been practically since History. Gabe turned his head around, "Hey little brother, how was school?" he asked, switching off the TV and following the younger boy into the kitchen.

Cas shut the fridge door after realizing he wasn't even hungry and sat down at the table opposite Gabriel. "School was good" Cas replied, smiling as he remembered History and his brief encounter with Dean in the car park. Gabriel knew his brother very well, and could easily sense something was going on. "Something you want to tell me?" He asked, eyebrows raised and leaning forwards on the table. Castiel was used to this kind of behavior from his older brother and rolled his eyes. "I have a group assignment for history" he replied, hoping he'd be able to get away with just that but knowing that Gabe was going to press for more details. "You know I'm going to drag it out of you so why don't you just tell me now and save us about half an hour?" Gabriel prompted, unsatisfied with the answer Cas had given. Castiel sighed, "and I've been partnered with a really attractive guy" he added. Gabriel leant back in his seat, smirking, "There we go. Name?"

Castiel stood and poured himself a glass of water, just for the sake of giving himself something to do and not having to look at Gabriel. "Dean Winchester" he mumbled, but it was loud enough for Gabe to hear. Gabe's smirk widened and his face lit up, "Dean Winchester!? You have a crush on Dean Winchester!?" He exclaimed and Castiel hung his head in humiliation.

Gabe had only graduated last year and knew all the kids in Castiel's year level and was friends with some of them and therefore, knew all the gossip. "I do not have a crush on him" Castiel defended pathetically, drinking his water, a frown still etched on his face, although he wasn't really angry or upset. "Yeah yeah Cassie" Gabe retorted, standing. "Cassie is a girl's name. My name is Castiel" Cas responded, ignoring the patronizing tone in Gabe's voice.

He ushered Gabe out of the kitchen and headed towards the stairs. "I'm gonna go to my room, I have homework" he said. "Homework? More like you're gonna go fantasize about Winchester until you finally muster up the courage to send him a text that says 'hi :)'" Gabe chuckled, returning to his position on the couch. Castiel merely huffed, knowing that there was some truth in Gabe's words but he

wasn't going to admit that. "You're an ass, you know that?" Castiel threw in Gabe's direction as he headed up the stairs slowly. Gabe merely winked at him

"You wouldn't have me any other way" he retorted, chuckling and turning the TV back on as Castiel continued upstairs to his room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: There's a bit of mild violence in this chapter so be warned.**

Castiel walked into his room and shut the door behind him, slumping down onto his bed with a loud groan. He felt so mentally tired from having Dean on his mind all day without fault, but his body was buzzing and he needed to get up and do something. He'd never been able to get close enough to form a crush on anybody before. Nobody paid him enough attention. All Dean had done was shake his hand and introduce himself but his attitude had been so warm and friendly that Cas felt he couldn't be blamed for getting attached so quickly. It was also the prospect of working on an assignment with him all term and possibly going over to each other's houses and working on the assignment and getting distracted and rolling over each other on Dean's bed and then kissing down− Cas stopped that thought short. No need to get ahead of himself. He stood from his bed and began pacing around his room. He had too much adrenaline. He wanted to walk to Dean's place right now and tell him… What would he tell him? Cas sighed and sat back down. He was so agitated and restless. "That's it" he muttered, although nobody could hear him.

Castiel pulled the door open, his feet racing down the steps. Gabe looked up from the TV momentarily. "Going somewhere?" he asked, turning the volume down. Castiel kept walking towards the front door as he spoke "I just need some air" he replied hastily as he stepped out of the house, closing the door behind him. Gabriel sat for a moment, slightly dazed at Castiel's unusual behaviour, but shrugged it off, turning his attention to the TV once more.

A couple of seconds out the door and Cas realized that he should've wrapped up warmer. It was early September, it was just starting to get colder and Cas was wearing one layer too little. He shrugged off the goosebumps and continued walking determinedly towards an unconfirmed destination.

As he walked, thoughts of Dean flitted through his head. Only fleeting images, times when they had brushed past each other in the school hallway, or when he'd sat behind him in class, not really paying attention but now trying to conjure as much detail as possible.

He continued on like this for at least an hour, striding down the footpath, lost in his own mind. When he finally looked out at his surroundings he realized that he had become lost in his own neighbourhood too. He frowned and turned around, looking back at the way he had come, trying to figure out where he had turned into and how he could get back to somewhere he recognized.

As he was standing, confused and a bit nervous as the last lingering light evaporated from the sky, a group of five older, taller and more muscular boys approached him. Castiel smiled weakly and began walking again, in the opposite direction to them. "Going somewhere?" One of them called out. The voice was deep and aggressive and Castiel did not like where this was going one bit. Castiel shrunk his body down, curling into himself as his steps quickened, his eyes planted determinedly on the path just in front of his feet. This wasn't a particularly bad neighbourhood but it had had its fair share of muggings and Castiel knew that he probably wouldn't get home without at least a black eye and a split lip. He quickly turned his head to see how far behind him they were and was unpleasantly surprised when he realized that they were practically on his heels. The one that had spoken earlier, presumably the ringleader, grabbed Castiel's shoulder and pulled him around to face him. Castiel let out a tiny whimper, wanting to close his eyes and curl up and wait for this all to go away. "What's your deal then?" The boy asked Cas, tilting his head to one side then the other in a snakelike fashion. "I just need to get home" Castiel mumbled desperately. The older boy snickered, "Oh I don't think so. Not just yet." By that point the rest of the group had caught up to them and were surrounding the oldest, snarling and making generally animalistic noises of support. "Gimme your wallet" the boy grunted. Castiel should've expected this. He sighed, "I don't have my wallet on me" he replied, knowing that that answer wasn't going to be good enough. The older boy narrowed his eyes, "I'm going to give you one more chance. Give me. Your wallet."  
"I don't have it with me." Castiel repeated, bracing himself for some form of violence. And he was right to expect it, the boy's fist came flying at his face and Castiel stumbled back from the momentum.

It appeared as though the ruffian had realized that Castiel was actually telling the truth when he'd said he didn't have his wallet but it didn't seem to change his mind. Not that Castiel had expected them to leave with an "oh I'm so sorry what a misunderstanding we'll just be going now" but he had kind of hoped that he might've been cut some slack. Apparently not, Castiel figured, as the fist came at his face again. He didn't bother flinching or attempting to duck, that'd just aggravate his attacker's even more and all he could do was hold his ground until they got bored of him. A couple of the others had apparently noticed that the action had started and joined in, kneeing him in the stomach which caused Cas to double over, coughing the air out of his lungs. From his bent-over position he was even more vulnerable and one of them used this opportunity to elbow him in the side of the face sending him tumbling to the ground. In his tumble Cas had just enough time to freak out even more than he already was. Standing he was in a bad position, but on the ground he was in one of the worst positions possible. This was proven to be true as the leader connected his foot with Castiel's stomach and he let out a loud sound that was somewhere between and yelp and a sob, the air being kicked out of him. He curled up in an attempt to protect himself as the leader stepped back and allowed his minions to follow his example, kicking at his torso and shins and face and stamping on his hands.

After another 5 minutes of this horrendous attack, the leader called it off obviously bored with Castiel now who wasn't even attempting to fight back, knowing it would be no use. Castiel almost let out a sigh of relief, but didn't in case they changed their mind. He remained curled up on the side of the road as he watched from the corner of his eye as the group walked away, and it wasn't until they were completely out of sight that he finally moved. He groaned as he rolled onto his back, the disruption reminding his body of the throbbing pain. He laid there for another thirty seconds before deciding that he wasn't going to get anywhere feeling sorry for himself on the footpath, and ever so slowly sat up then pushed himself to his feet, his arms trembling as they supported his weight until he managed to get to his feet.

Castiel moaned and whimpered as he took each step, stumbling hunched over along the pathway. In a fleeting thought he realized he looked like some sort of zombie and if a little girl came around the corner right now she'd probably run off screaming. He would've laughed but he was in too much pain. He wasn't really sure what to do or where to go. He hadn't brought his phone with him, although if he had it would've been taken or smashed in the assault anyway, so he couldn't call Gabe or Michael and get one of them to pick him up and he'd walked for about an hour before the gang had noticed him. He stopped, he couldn't walk back home in this condition, and he hardly knew where he was anyway. He frowned, which resulted in another groan as he remembered the injuries that had been inflicted on his face.

In that moment Castiel was lonely, tired, in pain, and he had no clue what to do. Even giving up wasn't an option because where would that get him? He couldn't just stay on the side of the road all night. As he stood, pondering how to continue from this situation he heard the low rumble of a car, a '67 Chevy Impala to be precise. He glanced up hopefully, knowing someone in particular that owned a car of that sort. He glanced in through the window and a smile danced across his lips as he recognised the face. He stepped closer to the car and knocked on the window. Slowly the window lowered as Dean leaned across, rolling it down manually. "Cas? What the hell happened to you?" Dean asked horrified at the bloody mess that was Castiel's face. "I got mugged." He choked out, his voice just as weak as the rest of him. "Do you think I could maybe get a ride?" He asked.  
Dean nodded, pushing open the passenger door. "Yeah of course, climb in" he encouraged as Castiel awkwardly managed to get into the car groaning and wincing. "Man you look like crap" Dean commented as the engine revved and they continued down the road. Castiel merely smiled weakly in agreement, sinking down into the seat. "You know what, I'm gonna take you back to my place and patch you up a bit" He decided, turning the car around hastily. Castiel glanced up at Dean through his long eyelashes. "Are you sure? I mean, I don't want to inconvenience you and Sam" he mumbled awkwardly. Dean nodded and sped up a little.

Not too long after, Dean pulled into the garage and the car purred to a stop. Dean swiftly opened the door and got out of the car in one swift movement. Castiel watched, admiring how easy simple movements were for him. He attempted to do the same but as he stood he hit his already battered head on the side of the car. All he felt was a moment of dizziness before it all became too much and he blacked out, slumping back down into the passenger seat.


End file.
